Michelle and Mannie (GA)
Member Since 2009
Good Morning LL!! 
(Ahhhhhh.... elixir! Thanks Elsa), and Happy Catmint Caturday!
LL! It's is I, Elsa, KBP, president and CEO of Coffee Cat! Life is GOOD! GUESS WHAT! Paw Prints Pizza is open and ready for business! They are running a Caturday Catnip special today, in honor of Catmint Caturday - lots of nip in those pies!
They have even used their signature nip cheese. 
Best order early! OOOOOOOOO! They have perfected their NY Style hot dog pies. MAJOR YUM!!!! Try one, you'll see! Just order the Mannie and Stu Special! so. well. anyways. Coffee time! For today, I proudly offer Elsa's special 10 hour energy coffee, and Double shot espressos, with beans from deep within the mountain slopes of Africa, AND.... for all my Mocha fans: a venti quad peppermint white chocolate mocha, with peppermint infused whip, garnished with peppermint candy chips and white chocolate shavings... It is my bean's fav! SWEET! OH! No worries, a dollop of peppermint and vanilla and chocolate and caramel swirl ice cream, on top of a dollop of fudge, sprinkled with peppermint chips and a chocolate caramel drizzle.... Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh....... mega good!
I hope everyone had a great day yesterday, and a great week. The days with the boys have been good ones! We have been very busy, that part of life has not changed. Will it ever? ;-) NOPE!!
What a BUSY week! I still think/know I will always prefer it that way. We have been swimming, and hiking, a day on the river, via an urban park and the science center. We have had lunches at rivers edge, car camping some too, and indoors on benches, looking out at those grassy lawns picnic style. Life is good!
Fall is upon the boys, with their scheduling and activities. We seem to have fine tuned it all, with some minor adjustments. Last week actually went fairly well, the routine seems to be set. William has taken well to the pool, Nicholas is enjoying school. YAY!!! Last week William finally started walking. SWEET!, and now there is no stopping him. :lol: . The kitties are into Fall too. There sure is alot of napping going on, and seeking out of the fleece blankets. Even Lola has mellowed! :shock: :lol: I say that with tongue in cheek, as I did find another upturned plant this morning.... go Lola.... but she has mellowed alot.
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday Night were our swimming days this week. :shock: That's alot of pool time! William went Monday and Thursday, Nicholas Monday, Wednesday and Friday nght. They both are truly water babies. William has taken to it all so well. He never cries when there, alwyas asks for more of whatever he is playing on. He doesn't seem to mind, too much, when the water spray features are on. He loves the slides, and wants to climb up the stria on his own. So we do, slide down together. :shock: :lol: I am continuing to introduce him to being underwater, for short periods at a time. He doesn't seem to mind them, I've even had a few smiles. He's adjusted to back floating, and "swimming" on his front. I have no doubt that he will like this as much as Nicholas does. Nicholas has been very supportive of William's efforts in the pool. He still asks how he did when he can't swim with him, tells me what I should be training him on, asks if he did certain things. It is cool when he says" "He's doing great Grammie!" Yes, that he is. Nicholas still is our energizer fishie. That I think will never change. he just has so much fun with it all. He has taken a liking to the new pool we started going to a few months ago, in Snohomish. it really is a wonderful experience, and he can do alot of the things he likes there: like the slides, the lazy river, and deep water jumping and diving. That has become outrnew Friday pool. It is a ways away so it does add to our commuting time, but we all agree that it is very much worth the effort and time spent. We are still trying to "convince" Nicholas that swim lessons would be great, but he is adamant that he does not want to do them. silly boy! All in good time. I am seriously toying with the idea of seeing if I can schedule a private lesson thing with her on the days it is just Nicholas and I, as he really likes her. I think I shall see if I can get hold of her this coming week and see if she has the time. I continue teach him what I can, review what he learned from the day he swam with one of the guards, and marvel at how well he does on his own. He's been making lots of new friends when he goes. it's fun to see him connect up with kids when he gets there. We all just love pool days, adn are grateful that we have the pools and the time to be able to do this. GO NICK! GO WILLIAM!
Nicholas still looks forward to our after swim Friday Night Burger Feast
That is just so fun: burgers and fries, just him and me, with lots of fun stories. He was so happy to see that burger and fries combo show up, just like always. Somehow I think that is part of the magic of Friday night swims: that he gets burgers etc after his swim. :razz: Yesterday we again talked about our week, trips to city parks and urban rivers, and future visit to the Skykomish River in Gold Bar, and Skykomish. and the science center. What fun time, talking through mouthfuls full of burgers and fries. :lol: The drive home was such a hoot. I wrote this last week, but he remembered that drive, and wanted to sing again: remember that song "on top of spaghetti all covered with cheese, I lost my meatball when somebody sneezed?" We sang that all the way home, him and Bear. I pretended to be Bear, who couldn't get the song right, kept getting the wrong things, like lot dogs instead of a meatball. Nicholas just laughed and laughed all the way home. What a fun drive! LOL, the last three Friday night drives have been full of Bear and spaghetti songs. :roll: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Monday morning, after the boys swim time, I spent the afternoon in Seattle, visiting my friend. It's nice to be able to get back into "town" once a week and catch up with people I used to work with, before I hung up the working mantle. I listen to all their trial and tribulations and keep thinking. I am so glad I no longer have to deal with any of this..... ;-) YAY YAY YAY YAY!! Coffee time with barb though is great!
Tuesday was my hiking day.
. I had so wnated to be in the North Cascades, but the weather in most of the state didn't support hiking, and up in the mountains? reports of lots of freezing white stuff. :shock: :shock: :shock: Already? but.... but... but.... I'm not done yet with my mountain hiking!!! :lol: :roll: So I ended up settling for the driest, warmest place I could find: Lake Padden and Whatcom Falls in Bellingham. we did OK, did have a great drive to Bellingham, and I hope it was the wise choice. it was painful to pass up the North Cascades, as that is where i really wanted to be. oh well, maybe the rest of the month will be better and I can still make a few trips there. The places I went to in Bellingham were old faves, just kinda took off and went to what I knew. Lake Padden is pretty, nice lake south of Bellingham. I've had the boys there a few times. It was windy that day, brrrr! and wet, but still nice. Did Whatcom Falls. just cuz it too is easy, doable, no matter what the weather. The sun broke through about the time I got there, so that as nice. I had hoped to wrap up the day with some time on the Nooksack River, but really couldn't find any pullouts that would get me there. After making it almost to Mt Baker, 30 miles later and well into the late afternoon, I decided enough was enough, and turned around. I guess I really need to just explore some of the side roads that parallel that river to be able to truly get to it. Anyways... what I could see was good, lol. It proved to be a great day to be out locally.
Wednesday afternoon, after Nicholas's swim we were off to an adventure in my own backyard. :lol: :lol: The weather her that day was just AWFUL, such strong winds, rains, etc. We looked at some local parks, but it just didn't look like we'd get very far without being totally soaked. Nicholas thought is would be good just to play out in the yard, so we did. We had a short break in all that whether nastiness, about 30 minutes, just enough time for them to have some fun. The yard here is a decent size one, so lots of prostitutes possibilities (one has to LOVE auto correct! :lol: )just to explore. We played ball, gathered pine cones, and Nicholas introduced William to the art of puddle stomping. :lol: :lol: :lol: Boys will be boys. I so had to laugh when William found that puddle. He practically ran to it, sat down at the edge of it, in the mud :roll: and proceeded to splash away. it was about that time that Nicholas came over and said "William, let me show you something!" That began puddle stomping 101. What a hoot! The rains had begun to return about then, so we walked until all us felt we were wet enough.... and we were.
Thursday Afternoon, after William's swim,and Nicholas's school we were off to a river park in Bothell. We had such fun there a week or so ago that we decided to go back. They too have a nice playground area , and well as a good river trail walk, with a few access points where the boys can get down to waters edge. It is always fun to be able to do that there, as the ducks come and visit every time. We got lucky with the weather that day too, as it had been drizzly a good part of the morning. By time time we made the park, the sun was beginning to show, and stayed with us the whole time we were there. It was sunny enough and warm enough that Nicholas was able to wade out into the river some too. He just loves to be able to get into the river! He didn't stay in long, waded some only, as it really was a bit cold to be swimming in. Nicholas wanted to walk some of the trail too. The fall colors there are starting to show. Really nice! William was content with all the sticks and rocks and fallen leaves he found. Way too funny, but cool too. Just like last week, we brought some food for the ducks. Nicholas had such fun feeding them. He had quite the audience. William was busy chanting: " ducks, ducks, ducks, ducks! " He sat by Nicholas while he fed them, had a piece of bread of his own to fed them. He was cute, had one of the ducks steal his offerings out of his hand, when he extended that piece of bread, whole, out to them. Once that was gone his solution was to offer them leaves. HAHA. One took the offer Nice afternoon at the park. Nicholas could have used another 2 hours there, he was so not done when it was time to leave. ;-)
Friday was our free travel day. Once again the weather was not our friend, what rains! and winds! and fog! so........ Nicholas's solution was the Pacific Science Center. SWEET! and an excellent choice. Science center was alot of fun, both boys got into just about everything, Even William wants to participate. That was fun to see. I think we spent 6 hours there, did it all. it never really did stop with the rains yesterday, rains all day. We had a small break when we were at the science center, enough that we could get a half hour or so out with their waterworks through science stuff outdoors. Nicholas just loves that stuff. William too. It was water and all he wanted was to be in it. :lol: Nicholas likes the place, is getting much better at understanding some of the science behind what he interacts with. William just likes pushing all the buttons turning all those knobs. ;-) It's a great place, lots to do, lots for them to learn. It is unfortunate that some of the exhibit areas need work in that the stuff simply does not work anymore. other than that, still good. Neither boy wanted to leave....
Normalcy in MusketeerVille! The kitties are all doing well. Not too much new with them... Fall mode is here, they are bunkering down, but still yearning for the great outdoors when the sun is out. Elsa still ventures out, and when out she doesn't stay long. Bug could care less, Lola is ALWAYS grounded, and always wants OUT. :lol: I am still waiting for my new patio door to be installed, as I am still "om order" (sheshhh!) step one on the catio development. I still haven't done much more than that. When I did price out what I really would like to build for the kitties, and I had a severe case of sticker shock. :shock: :shock: So back to the drawing board on that one. :lol: :shock: I may just try and figure out a way to enclose a portion of the deck for them, dunno on that... Lola, I have not forgotten your catio.... but you may have to wait a bit longer. ;-) Nicholas continues to talk about Mannie. They have been such good discussions. Last week I remember writing how at one point he told me that he really wishes Mannie could come home. ;-) He did this week too, and just like last week my thoughts were "Nicholas, so do I". A few times this past week he mentioned, out of the blue, that he misses Mannie. I usually respond by telling him Nicholas and Mannie stories. That always brings a smile to his face. We all miss ya big guy! cat_pet_icon
Have a great caturday everyone. Sorry this post it late today. Sorry too I missed everyone's condos yesterday too. Time this morning, and the days, have gotten away from me. At least the shopping is done, and the laundry. I am off in a few for an afternoon walk in the woods. The day has turned warm, just not very sunny, and a little WET. LOL: normal for Fall here... WOOT! Erin, Jason, Nicholas and William will be by this afternoon for a visit too. YAY!!!!
KITTIES! Remember: think BLUE, think GREEN cat_pet_icon
(Ahhhhhh.... elixir! Thanks Elsa), and Happy Catmint Caturday!LL! It's is I, Elsa, KBP, president and CEO of Coffee Cat! Life is GOOD! GUESS WHAT! Paw Prints Pizza is open and ready for business! They are running a Caturday Catnip special today, in honor of Catmint Caturday - lots of nip in those pies!
They have even used their signature nip cheese. Best order early! OOOOOOOOO! They have perfected their NY Style hot dog pies. MAJOR YUM!!!! Try one, you'll see! Just order the Mannie and Stu Special! so. well. anyways. Coffee time! For today, I proudly offer Elsa's special 10 hour energy coffee, and Double shot espressos, with beans from deep within the mountain slopes of Africa, AND.... for all my Mocha fans: a venti quad peppermint white chocolate mocha, with peppermint infused whip, garnished with peppermint candy chips and white chocolate shavings... It is my bean's fav! SWEET! OH! No worries, a dollop of peppermint and vanilla and chocolate and caramel swirl ice cream, on top of a dollop of fudge, sprinkled with peppermint chips and a chocolate caramel drizzle.... Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh....... mega good! I hope everyone had a great day yesterday, and a great week. The days with the boys have been good ones! We have been very busy, that part of life has not changed. Will it ever? ;-) NOPE!!
What a BUSY week! I still think/know I will always prefer it that way. We have been swimming, and hiking, a day on the river, via an urban park and the science center. We have had lunches at rivers edge, car camping some too, and indoors on benches, looking out at those grassy lawns picnic style. Life is good! Fall is upon the boys, with their scheduling and activities. We seem to have fine tuned it all, with some minor adjustments. Last week actually went fairly well, the routine seems to be set. William has taken well to the pool, Nicholas is enjoying school. YAY!!! Last week William finally started walking. SWEET!, and now there is no stopping him. :lol:
. The kitties are into Fall too. There sure is alot of napping going on, and seeking out of the fleece blankets. Even Lola has mellowed! :shock: :lol: I say that with tongue in cheek, as I did find another upturned plant this morning.... go Lola.... but she has mellowed alot. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday Night were our swimming days this week. :shock: That's alot of pool time! William went Monday and Thursday, Nicholas Monday, Wednesday and Friday nght. They both are truly water babies. William has taken to it all so well. He never cries when there, alwyas asks for more of whatever he is playing on. He doesn't seem to mind, too much, when the water spray features are on. He loves the slides, and wants to climb up the stria on his own. So we do, slide down together. :shock: :lol: I am continuing to introduce him to being underwater, for short periods at a time. He doesn't seem to mind them, I've even had a few smiles. He's adjusted to back floating, and "swimming" on his front. I have no doubt that he will like this as much as Nicholas does. Nicholas has been very supportive of William's efforts in the pool. He still asks how he did when he can't swim with him, tells me what I should be training him on, asks if he did certain things. It is cool when he says" "He's doing great Grammie!" Yes, that he is. Nicholas still is our energizer fishie. That I think will never change. he just has so much fun with it all. He has taken a liking to the new pool we started going to a few months ago, in Snohomish. it really is a wonderful experience, and he can do alot of the things he likes there: like the slides, the lazy river, and deep water jumping and diving. That has become outrnew Friday pool. It is a ways away so it does add to our commuting time, but we all agree that it is very much worth the effort and time spent. We are still trying to "convince" Nicholas that swim lessons would be great, but he is adamant that he does not want to do them. silly boy! All in good time. I am seriously toying with the idea of seeing if I can schedule a private lesson thing with her on the days it is just Nicholas and I, as he really likes her. I think I shall see if I can get hold of her this coming week and see if she has the time. I continue teach him what I can, review what he learned from the day he swam with one of the guards, and marvel at how well he does on his own. He's been making lots of new friends when he goes. it's fun to see him connect up with kids when he gets there. We all just love pool days, adn are grateful that we have the pools and the time to be able to do this. GO NICK! GO WILLIAM!
Nicholas still looks forward to our after swim Friday Night Burger Feast
That is just so fun: burgers and fries, just him and me, with lots of fun stories. He was so happy to see that burger and fries combo show up, just like always. Somehow I think that is part of the magic of Friday night swims: that he gets burgers etc after his swim. :razz: Yesterday we again talked about our week, trips to city parks and urban rivers, and future visit to the Skykomish River in Gold Bar, and Skykomish. and the science center. What fun time, talking through mouthfuls full of burgers and fries. :lol: The drive home was such a hoot. I wrote this last week, but he remembered that drive, and wanted to sing again: remember that song "on top of spaghetti all covered with cheese, I lost my meatball when somebody sneezed?" We sang that all the way home, him and Bear. I pretended to be Bear, who couldn't get the song right, kept getting the wrong things, like lot dogs instead of a meatball. Nicholas just laughed and laughed all the way home. What a fun drive! LOL, the last three Friday night drives have been full of Bear and spaghetti songs. :roll: :lol: :lol: :lol: Monday morning, after the boys swim time, I spent the afternoon in Seattle, visiting my friend. It's nice to be able to get back into "town" once a week and catch up with people I used to work with, before I hung up the working mantle. I listen to all their trial and tribulations and keep thinking. I am so glad I no longer have to deal with any of this..... ;-) YAY YAY YAY YAY!! Coffee time with barb though is great!
Tuesday was my hiking day.
. I had so wnated to be in the North Cascades, but the weather in most of the state didn't support hiking, and up in the mountains? reports of lots of freezing white stuff. :shock: :shock: :shock: Already? but.... but... but.... I'm not done yet with my mountain hiking!!! :lol: :roll: So I ended up settling for the driest, warmest place I could find: Lake Padden and Whatcom Falls in Bellingham. we did OK, did have a great drive to Bellingham, and I hope it was the wise choice. it was painful to pass up the North Cascades, as that is where i really wanted to be. oh well, maybe the rest of the month will be better and I can still make a few trips there. The places I went to in Bellingham were old faves, just kinda took off and went to what I knew. Lake Padden is pretty, nice lake south of Bellingham. I've had the boys there a few times. It was windy that day, brrrr! and wet, but still nice. Did Whatcom Falls. just cuz it too is easy, doable, no matter what the weather. The sun broke through about the time I got there, so that as nice. I had hoped to wrap up the day with some time on the Nooksack River, but really couldn't find any pullouts that would get me there. After making it almost to Mt Baker, 30 miles later and well into the late afternoon, I decided enough was enough, and turned around. I guess I really need to just explore some of the side roads that parallel that river to be able to truly get to it. Anyways... what I could see was good, lol. It proved to be a great day to be out locally. Wednesday afternoon, after Nicholas's swim we were off to an adventure in my own backyard.
:lol: :lol: The weather her that day was just AWFUL, such strong winds, rains, etc. We looked at some local parks, but it just didn't look like we'd get very far without being totally soaked. Nicholas thought is would be good just to play out in the yard, so we did. We had a short break in all that whether nastiness, about 30 minutes, just enough time for them to have some fun. The yard here is a decent size one, so lots of Thursday Afternoon, after William's swim,and Nicholas's school we were off to a river park in Bothell. We had such fun there a week or so ago that we decided to go back. They too have a nice playground area , and well as a good river trail walk, with a few access points where the boys can get down to waters edge. It is always fun to be able to do that there, as the ducks come and visit every time. We got lucky with the weather that day too, as it had been drizzly a good part of the morning. By time time we made the park, the sun was beginning to show, and stayed with us the whole time we were there. It was sunny enough and warm enough that Nicholas was able to wade out into the river some too. He just loves to be able to get into the river! He didn't stay in long, waded some only, as it really was a bit cold to be swimming in. Nicholas wanted to walk some of the trail too. The fall colors there are starting to show. Really nice! William was content with all the sticks and rocks and fallen leaves he found. Way too funny, but cool too. Just like last week, we brought some food for the ducks. Nicholas had such fun feeding them. He had quite the audience. William was busy chanting: " ducks, ducks, ducks, ducks! " He sat by Nicholas while he fed them, had a piece of bread of his own to fed them. He was cute, had one of the ducks steal his offerings out of his hand, when he extended that piece of bread, whole, out to them. Once that was gone his solution was to offer them leaves. HAHA. One took the offer Nice afternoon at the park. Nicholas could have used another 2 hours there, he was so not done when it was time to leave. ;-)
Friday was our free travel day. Once again the weather was not our friend, what rains! and winds! and fog! so........ Nicholas's solution was the Pacific Science Center. SWEET! and an excellent choice. Science center was alot of fun, both boys got into just about everything, Even William wants to participate. That was fun to see. I think we spent 6 hours there, did it all. it never really did stop with the rains yesterday, rains all day. We had a small break when we were at the science center, enough that we could get a half hour or so out with their waterworks through science stuff outdoors. Nicholas just loves that stuff. William too. It was water and all he wanted was to be in it. :lol: Nicholas likes the place, is getting much better at understanding some of the science behind what he interacts with. William just likes pushing all the buttons turning all those knobs. ;-) It's a great place, lots to do, lots for them to learn. It is unfortunate that some of the exhibit areas need work in that the stuff simply does not work anymore. other than that, still good. Neither boy wanted to leave....
Normalcy in MusketeerVille!
The kitties are all doing well. Not too much new with them... Fall mode is here, they are bunkering down, but still yearning for the great outdoors when the sun is out. Elsa still ventures out, and when out she doesn't stay long. Bug could care less, Lola is ALWAYS grounded, and always wants OUT. :lol: I am still waiting for my new patio door to be installed, as I am still "om order" (sheshhh!) step one on the catio development. I still haven't done much more than that. When I did price out what I really would like to build for the kitties, and I had a severe case of sticker shock. :shock: :shock: So back to the drawing board on that one. :lol: :shock: I may just try and figure out a way to enclose a portion of the deck for them, dunno on that... Lola, I have not forgotten your catio.... but you may have to wait a bit longer. ;-) Nicholas continues to talk about Mannie. They have been such good discussions. Last week I remember writing how at one point he told me that he really wishes Mannie could come home. ;-) He did this week too, and just like last week my thoughts were "Nicholas, so do I". A few times this past week he mentioned, out of the blue, that he misses Mannie. I usually respond by telling him Nicholas and Mannie stories. That always brings a smile to his face. We all miss ya big guy! cat_pet_icon Have a great caturday everyone. Sorry this post it late today. Sorry too I missed everyone's condos yesterday too. Time this morning, and the days, have gotten away from me. At least the shopping is done, and the laundry.
I am off in a few for an afternoon walk in the woods. The day has turned warm, just not very sunny, and a little WET. LOL: normal for Fall here... WOOT! Erin, Jason, Nicholas and William will be by this afternoon for a visit too. YAY!!!!KITTIES! Remember: think BLUE, think GREEN cat_pet_icon
